I've been a Bean customer for over 50 years. Their flannel shirts are among my favorites among their offerings.

That first article that characterized Herter's as a merchandizer of fishing tackle, etc., is fallacious in this regard. They sold all manner of outdoor gear, including their own proprietary guns, in their catalogs, which were a hoot: They made all sorts of grandiose claims for Herter's goods, which were often pretty shoddy in reality, and lambasted all competitive products as junk. They even had their own revolver cartridge--the .401 Herter Power Mag, which was similar to the slightly later .41 Magnum. It was chambered in a Herter's revolver made by J.P. Sauer & Son in West Germany. They must have sold a fair number of them. I used to get a fair number of inquiries about them in the course of my work as a gun editor before everybody turned to internet fora for answers.

Memories, memories....

^ What he said. They've changed their presentation by quite a bit.

What do we all think - Does this new presentation style come from J. Crew's influence?

I really think so, but I'm at a distance from all this in the US.

J.

I hate to say it, but this might be a welcome development in some ways.. I used to live in New England, and often made the drive to Freeport just because, and found myself getting more and more depressed each time.. I recall thinking they were reverting to some sort of horrid, outdoors themed JC Penney.  I haven't bought clothing at LL Bean in years (save a pair of workboots at the outlet store in Concord, NH), but if they ever come back with the Norwegian fisherman's sweater, I may take the plunge again..

In spite of all of the reinventions that they have gone through, there are still some things that LLB sells that are true standards.

Chamois shirts
Blucher mocs
Camp mocs (you can get 2 or 3 for what you pay for Quoddys)
LLB gum sole shoes and boots, you really need (or want); the gum sole mocs, 3 eyelet shoes, and 8 or 10" boots, depending on the snow that you encounter.
Plain grey sweat shirts.
No iron shirts are generally, not my cup of tea. However, last summer, I got one OCBD that I could wear all summer without ironing, figured that I  could throw it away at the end of the season. Damn thing seems to be indestructable, and is in the stack of summer stuff for next year. With a cupon or so, it seems like it was about 10$. Not like a shirt form AK with hand shanked buttons; but the next best thing.

The blue Norwegian fisherman sweater, if it ever comes back. Last year, they came up with a blue, and a grey model that were in some ways better than the original, if you wear it indoors. The original was great for cross country skiing, but a bit warm indoors.

Not many of us left, that are part of the cult that had to have this sweater, however. What didn't sell went in the sale bin at the end of the season, for a very nominal price. Too bad.

None of the above, except the gum sole boots are made in the US. Quality seems to be just as good, however.

A recent announcement in the business section said that LLB holiday sales were off 10%, and they were going to have to lay off employees. They are still privately held, so you can't see their financials.

Another standard in the US, is their service. No other vendor that I have ever dealt with will go to the extremes that they do to be sure that you are pleased with your purchases, no one else is even close, in my view.

The switch to the Barclay's card this summer was superb. Free shipping, monograms, and returns by UPS.

Let's hope that they continue to fill the role that they still play in our US culture.